


Showing Up is Half the Battle

by mldrgrl



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, but Mulder doesn't know it, sort of fighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-19 21:00:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17009127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mldrgrl/pseuds/mldrgrl
Summary: Early on in dating, Scully needs a break.  Or does she?





	Showing Up is Half the Battle

There’s a look of genuine shock on his face when he opens his apartment door, a look that for a moment, takes her back to their first case when she showed up at his motel room in her red robe and barely concealed panic.  She’s not bearing any mystery bumps on her back this time, but there is a mild undercurrent of fear there as she twists her fingers together nervously.

 

“May I come in?” she asks.

 

“Of course.”  He pushes the door back and she has to duck under his arm to enter.

 

The TV is on in the next room and she smells pizza in the air, but she doesn’t want to be distracted so she stops just beyond the table in the foyer as the door closes behind her.  She drops her head a little before she turns around and forgets that as much as she tries to push her hair back over her ears, it’s too short to stay put now.

 

“Look, Mulder,” she says, at the same time he starts with “Scully, I…”

 

She takes a glance up at him and her forehead wrinkles with embarrassment.  “Go ahead,” they both say, and she closes her eyes as she gives a mild scoff.  She holds a hand up, hoping he’ll take the hint and stay silent for a moment and then she breathes deeply and opens her eyes.

 

“I need to apologize,” she says.

 

“For what?”

 

She shakes her head and waves her hand at him.  “For this afternoon. I didn’t mean...what I said.”

 

“You don’t-”

 

She cuts him off with a pleading stare.   _ Don’t speak, Mulder.  Just let me say this.  _ He pushes his bottom lip out into a pointed pout.  He wants to protest, she can tell by the way he shuffles his feet, but he swallows back whatever he was going to say.

 

“I do though,” she continues.  “You’re not needy or trying to monopolize my time, I’m just...I’m not good at sharing myself with other people.  I never have been. So, I’m sorry.”

 

There’s an extended silence after she delivers her apology, one that lasts only a few heartbeats, but that feels like an eternity.  It’s long enough for Scully to feel her cheeks getting warm and she looks down at her twisted hands.

 

“I have good news for you, Scully,” he says.  “Sharing myself with other people is my forte.  I don’t have a lot of forte’s, but that’s definitely one of them.  So, if you think about it, you’re like the yin to my yang.”

 

She looks up at him, but can’t erase the feelings of bashful consternation that remain on her face.

 

“The peanut butter to my jelly,” he says.  “The Simon to my Garfunkle. The Beavis to my Butt-”

 

“Okay, stop.”  She chuckles before she lowers her head again and tries to push the stubborn hair back that keeps falling into her face.

 

“The peanut butter and banana sandwich to my Elvis,” he whispers and shuffles forward until her head bumps his chest.  

 

“You’re ridiculous.”

 

“I know.”  He kisses her crown and rubs the back of her neck as she sighs.  She still feels a little foolish, but less so as she puts her hands on his hips and he nuzzles her hair.  “You could’ve just called,” he says. “You didn’t have to come all the way over.”

 

“Yeah well…”  She huffs a little and leans back to look up at him.  “I missed you.”

 

He raises his brows and she rolls her eyes a little.  

 

“Don’t look at me like that,” she says.

 

“I’m just trying to reconcile ‘I missed you,’ with the whole ‘I’ve seen you for eight days straight, Mulder, I need a damn break,’ speech from today.”

 

“I told you, it’s me, not you.”

 

“You’re such a cliche.  Come here.” He cups her elbow and pulls her closer so he can wrap his arms around her.

 

“I’m not staying tonight,” she insists a little weakly.  With her face pressed to his chest she can smell his detergent and cologne in his t-shirt and he doesn’t know yet just how much of a sucker she is for the combo.  It may have even been what tipped her over the edge and got her into his bed.

 

“Okay.  Did you eat?”

 

“Not yet.”

 

“I have pizza.”

 

“What kind?”

 

“Half plain, half sausage and pepperoni.”

 

She smacks his chest lightly and backs away from him just a little.  “You can’t have known I’d show up. Not after this afternoon.”

 

“Scully, I live my life hoping you’ll show up, whether you do or not.”

 

“All I wanted was just a weekend apart.  It’s just been….I mean every night since that night we just…”

 

“I’m not stopping you, Scully.”

 

“No, but you’re just so god damn irresistible sometimes, it’s infuriating!”

 

He grins at her and she tries to scowl, but ends up laughing lightly and then shaking her head into her hands.

 

“Come have some pizza,” he says, gesturing towards the main room.  “You can have a slice or two and then head home. No movies, no beer, no popcorn, no hanky panky, all hands on deck.”

 

She catches the belt loop on his jeans at his hip when he tries to walk away and gives it a tug.  “Not even a little?”

 

“I mean, if you insist.”

 

“I did drive all this way.”

 

“On a Friday night no less.  How does a foot rub sound to you?”

 

“Perfect.”

 

“Great, you can start with the left, my arch has been bothering me lately.”

 

She smacks him soundly on the ass and he laughs before he spins her around and kisses her soundly.  She slides her hands through his hair and then caresses his ears before she pulls away.

 

“I’m really not staying,” she says.

 

“Yeah, but you’re here now.  That’s all that matters to me.”

 

She stays.

 

The End


End file.
